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Q.Describe Young's double-slit experiment for the interference of light. Obtain the expression for fringe width. (4+3=7)

Odisha ChseOdisha CHSE +2 Science Board Exam 2020Subjective· 7mImportance★★★★★
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Young's double-slit experiment shows interference between light from two coherent, closely-spaced slits, producing alternating bright and dark fringes with a fringe width β = λD/d.

Description of the experiment: A monochromatic light source illuminates a single narrow slit S, which acts as a source of coherent light. The light from S then falls on two closely spaced narrow slits, S1S_1 and S2S_2 (separated by a small distance dd), which act as two coherent secondary sources (same frequency, constant phase difference, since both derive from the same original wavefront). The light from S1S_1 and S2S_2 overlaps on a screen placed at a distance DD (D≫dD \gg d) from the slits, producing a pattern of equally spaced alternating bright and dark fringes — bright fringes where the waves interfere constructively, and dark fringes where they interfere destructively.

Derivation of fringe width:

Consider a point P on the screen at a distance yy from the central point O (the point equidistant from S1S_1 and S2S_2). The path difference between the two waves arriving at P is:

Δ=S2P−S1P≈ydD\Delta = S_2P - S_1P \approx \frac{yd}{D}

(using the small-angle/geometric approximation valid when D≫d,yD \gg d, y).

Condition for bright fringes (constructive interference): path difference is an integral multiple of wavelength:

yndD=nλ  ⟹  yn=nλDd,n=0,±1,±2,…\frac{y_n d}{D} = n\lambda \implies y_n = \frac{n\lambda D}{d}, \quad n = 0, \pm1, \pm2,\ldots

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